The Jews of Khazaria

by Kevin Alan Brook

Overview

The Jews of Khazaria chronicles the history of the Khazars, a people who, in the early Middle Ages, founded a large empire in eastern Europe (located in present-day Ukraine and Russia). The Khazars played a pivotal role in world history. Khazaria was one of the largest-sized political formations of its time, an economic and cultural superpower connected to several important trade routes. It was especially notable for its religious tolerance, and in the 9th century, a large portion of the royal family converted to Judaism. Many of the nobles and commoners did likewise shortly thereafter. After their conversion, the Khazars were ruled by a succession of Jewish kings that began to adopt the hallmarks of Jewish civilization, including the Torah and Talmud, the Hebrew script, and the observance of Jewish holidays. In this thoroughly revised edition of a modern classic, The Jews of Khazaria explores many exciting new discoveries about the Khazars' religious life, economy, military, government, and culture. It builds upon new studies of the Khazars, evaluating and incorporating recent theories, along with new documentary and archaeological findings. The book gives a comprehensive accounting of the cities, towns, and fortresses of Khazaria, and features a timeline summarizing key events in Khazar history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442203020
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/27/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	890 KB

About the Author

Kevin Alan Brook is an historian who has researched the Khazars since 1993. He has contributed articles about the Khazars to The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Second Edition (Brill, 2005) and The Turks Vol. 1 (Yeni Turkiye, 2002). Since 1995, Brook has maintained the website of the American Center of Khazar Studies (Khazaria.com).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 The Origins of the Khazars
Chapter 4 The Cities and Towns of the Khazars
Chapter 5 The Structure of the Khazar Government
Chapter 6 The Khazar Way of Life
Chapter 7 Khazarian Trade
Chapter 8 The Khazars' Conversion to Judaism
Chapter 9 Relations between the Khazars and Other Peoples
Chapter 10 The Decline and Fall of the Khazar Empire
Chapter 11 The Diaspora of the Khazars
Chapter 12 Eastern and Central European Jews after the Tenth Century
Chapter 13 Appendix A: Timeline of Khazar History
Chapter 14 Appendix B: Glossary
Chapter 15 Appendix C: Native Khazar Personal Names
Chapter 16 Appendix D: Other Instances of Conversion to Judaism in History
Chapter 17 Bibliography
Chapter 18 Index
Chapter 19 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"Over a millennium after the kingdom's disastrous wars with the Kievan Rus, the Khazar story still has an alluring mystique... Kevin Alan Brook presents the findings of an impressive array of scholarship, referencing primary sources and secondary scholarship written in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Russian, Hungarian, Swedish and other languages. He begins with legends about the Khazars' origins - ascription to the biblical Togarma or to one of the Ten Lost Tribes - and attempts to reconstruct the historical process by which Turkic peoples came to settle in the area between Crimea and the Caspian and coalesce into the Khazar Kingdom. Jews also settled there... The Jewish presence in Crimea and beyond increased with refugees from Persian persecution in the 5th century and from the increasing severity of Byzantine anti-Jewish legislation. Brook discusses the Khazar cities one by one, as well as the imperial structure... He describes lifestyles and trade patterns (including visits of the Jewish Radhanite merchants), before turning to the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism... [T]he last Khazar kagan, who became a Christian, was defeated in 1016. Brook notes that some scholars muse about Khazar revivals in the next two centuries, up to the Mongol invasions, but argues that it is difficult to verify these claims... The Jews of Khazaria is broad in scope; often, however, the book reads more like an annotated bibliography than a tight narrative... A highly useful, comprehensive chronology is given as an appendix... By accepting Judaism, Khazar Jews became part of the overall Jewish community... Far from being [merely] a romantic interlude whose brief existence sparked the imagination of generations, Brook's volume shows that the Khazar experience is intrinsic to the narrative of Jewish history."
—The Jewish Quarterly Review

Seth Ward

Far from being [merely] a romantic interlude whose brief existence sparked the imagination of generations, Brook’s volume shows that the Khazar experience is intrinsic to the narrative of Jewish history.

The Jewish Quarterly Review

Kevin Alan Brook has decided to look behind the various views of the Khazars and produce a non-ideological work that examines the little-known but critical moment in world history.. .. The facts are fascinating.

Jewish Book World

This is a fine analysis of a unique ‘Jewish’ community, adding archaeological and genetic evidence to the extensive array of chronicles and anecdotal evidence found in his earlier editions. With appendices, extensive notes and bibliography, it is an appropriate addition to any Judaica library.

AJL Newsletter

This third, revised edition of Kevin Brook’s well-received publication succeeds in elucidating controversial issues, while contextualizing the Khazar polity within the competitive ninth- to eleventh-century world. As a full exploration in English of the history and culture of the Khazars, this volume is without equal.

Edward J. Lazzerini

Kevin Alan Brook has decided to look behind the various views of the Khazars and produce a non-ideological work that examines the little-known but critical moment in world history. In a deadpan voice that one could attribute to a scholarly Joe Friday, Brooks provides us with the facts, only the facts. And, it's a good thing, because the facts are fascinating.

Fall 2007 Jewish Book World

Brook...has a passion for his topic, demonstrated by many articles, his stewardship of the website of the American Center of Khazar Studies (Khazaria.com), and the first (well received) edition of this book (1999)....Brook supplies a timeline, a glossary, a list of Khazar names, an appendix on other examples of conversions to Judaism, and maps to help the reader who is less familiar with the subject than he is.

Outlook

Kevin Alan Brook, thirty years on, strives, with considerable success, to satisfy the appetite for information about the Khazars which Koestler generated. The Jews of Khazaria is, in essence, a compendium of information gathered from every available source.. .. He has provided a useful reference work for all those intrigued by the most striking single case of successful Jewish proselytism, as well as for those interested in the affairs of one of the four great powers of western Eurasia in the early middle ages....[Brook] should be complimented on the trouble which he has taken to assemble so much information, out of so many disparate sources. He has provided a useful reference work.

Winter 2009 Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies

Far from being [merely] a romantic interlude whose brief existence sparked the imagination of generations, Brook's volume shows that the Khazar experience is intrinsic to the narrative of Jewish history.

(Review Of First Edition) The Jewish Quarterly Review

Kevin Alan Brook's The Jews of Khazaria is the first work since Douglas Dunlop's 1967 History of the Jewish Khazars to provide a comprehensive account of Khazar history. ... the work synthesizes a vast array of secondary literature into a concise and readable digest. ... Beyond providing a current and accessible introduction to this topic, the work is extremely valuable for its consolidation of this disparate material. ...

Journal Of Near Eastern Studies

A comprehensive study.. .. Acquaintance with this book will be. .. useful.

August 2008 The Chronicle Herald

This second, revised edition of Kevin Brook's well-received publication in 1999 of The Jews of Khazaria, integrates important new data culled from ongoing archaeological digs in southern Russia and the Crimea, genetic results of DNA processing, examination of formerly unknown or ignored coin hordes, and the continuing research of scholars around the world. It succeeds in elucidating controversial issues, while contextualizing the Khazar polity within the competitive 9th-11th-century world of Byzantium, the Arab Caliphate, and two regional upstarts: the Dnepr-based aggregate of Nordic, Slavic, and Turkic peoples known as Rus', and the Turkic-Islamic kaganate of Bulgar flourishing in the middle and upper Volga territory. As a full exploration in English of the history and culture of the Khazars, this volume is without equal, and would be quite useful reading in courses focused on the Kievan period of Russian history, as well as broader ones treating the dynamics of Central Eurasian history during these lively and formative centuries.--Edward J. Lazzerini, Indiana University

Far from being [merely] a romantic interlude whose brief existence sparked the imagination of generations, Brook's volume shows that the Khazar experience is intrinsic to the narrative of Jewish history.--The Jewish Quarterly Review, (Review Of First Edition)

Kevin Alan Brook, thirty years on, strives, with considerable success, to satisfy the appetite for information about the Khazars which Koestler generated. The Jews of Khazaria is, in essence, a compendium of information gathered from every available source. . . . He has provided a useful reference work for all those intrigued by the most striking single case of successful Jewish proselytism, as well as for those interested in the affairs of one of the four great powers of western Eurasia in the early middle ages....[Brook] should be complimented on the trouble which he has taken to assemble so much information, out of so many disparate sources. He has provided a useful reference work.--Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies, Winter 2009

From the Publisher

...[Brook] has provided a useful reference work for all those intrigued by the most striking single case of successful Jewish proselytism, as well as for those interested in the affairs of one of the four great powers of western Eurasia in the early middle ages.

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies